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Can hypnotherapy keep you young?

According to results of the Mental Health Foundation’s 2018 study….In the past year, 74% of people have felt so stressed they have been overwhelmed or unable to cope. Many more struggle on without seeking medical help. It is already known that chronic stress can affect our health adversely in many ways. What is not so well known is that it can also lead to premature ageing and the health problems that are associated with getting older.

Latest research suggests that age related diseases occur at different rates in different individuals. ‘Psychological distress’ appears to be an important factor in how quickly the onset of these diseases occurs.

Stress brings about imbalances in the body, such as high cortisol, glucose and insulin, and low growth hormones. These may lead to unwanted responses in our bodies, potentially impairing the normal cell ageing processes.

Premature ageing can also occur as a result of a lifestyle that includes the sort of behaviours that we associate with stress. They include smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, a sedentary lifestyle, a high fat diet and sleeplessness. These have all been linked to DNA damage due to a process called oxidation.

But the good news is that these ageing mechanisms can be reversed!

Research suggests that individuals can help themselves by reducing their perceptions of stress, along with increasing healthier behaviours, such as sleeping better, drinking less, and stopping smoking. These changes may promote subtle but important improvements in premature cell ageing.

In addition, hypnosis may contribute to stress reduction and health promotion. After a hypnosis session, heart rates can reduce and breathing rates lower. So the state of relaxation induced by hypnosis could well be beneficial and lead to stress reduction. Thereby minimising the risk of premature ageing.

Solution focused hypnotherapy (SFH) can help people manage their stress levels, it is a modern research based combination of hypnosis and psychotherapy, which promotes relaxation and helps clients to make beneficial lifestyle changes.

Local Hypnotherapist, Neil Cox of Bude, is very enthusiastic about the efficacy of SFH in the management of stress. “We know that too much pressure can lead to stress and a range of physical and mental health problems, including, it now transpires, premature ageing. Stress affects the way you think, feel and behave, impacting every area of your life at any age. Hypnotherapy offers powerful techniques and strategies to enable you to deal with stress, helping you to think and behave in a more positive way, and that has many health benefits”.

Neil explains how it works: “We encourage clients to focus on how they want things to be. We avoid problem talk and instead help our clients to visualise their preferred future. By encouraging clients to think and express themselves positively, we can help to improve their response to life’s stress.

People who say they never made even just a single mistake in their entire life are most likely lying.

We are all wonderful creatures. But the fact remains that we are not perfect. People who say they never made even just a single mistake in their entire life are most likely lying. Mistakes are normal. They are part of everyday life. But even though it happens most of the time, committing mistakes can make us feel embarrassed, disappointed and sometimes, a ‘complete failure’. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can actually turn mistakes into touchstones that will help you become a better person.

If you’ve hurt someone’s feelings, apologise.

Sometimes, we say things that offend other people and make them feel upset, even though we really don’t mean it. The best way to deal with this kind of situation is to say the big word “SORRY”. Tell that person you didn’t mean to offend him or her. Say sorry with utmost sincerity. Doing this does not just free you from guilt; it may also win you a friend.

Face it.

The best way to overcome a negative experience is to face it, not avoid it. If you’ve done something wrong, acknowledge it and accept it. Don’t try to deny it. But don’t beat yourself up either. Instead of focusing your time and energy trying to blame yourself, look for ways to repair the damage your error has caused. If for example, you’ve ruined a presentation that made your boss a little disappointed, apologise first and offer a solution to the problem. If it isn’t possible, tell him or her that you will be more careful to avoid doing the same mistake in the future. Accept whatever criticism that may be directed on you without complaining.

Confide to someone you trust.

Talking helps release some of the discomfort and frustrations you may have about the mistake you did. But be careful who to confide with and never badmouth someone else. Remember, the word can spread quickly. If you don’t feel comfortable talking about it with friends or relatives, you can always talk to a professional therapist.

Take responsibility for your action.

Committing a mistake can actually help you become more responsible of your actions and decisions. Don’t try to run away – it can only make things more complicated. Instead, confront the situation and deal with the consequences of your mistakes. It is going to be tough but most of the time, the lessons learned from mistakes are the best life lessons we would never forget.

Moving on from a mistake is highly possible.

Remember that people, too, will get over the mistake you did and forget about it. But sometimes, if it has deeply hurt them, moving on can take a long time. If you have already apologised but the person you’ve hurt hasn’t forgiven you yet, just accept the consequences. As other say, “to forgive is divine”. Not all humans have the ability to forgive and forget.

Remember that frustrations and embarrassments are temporary.

They say time heals. In the right time, all the negative emotions you’re experiencing right now will go away. Assure yourself that soon you will feel better and everything will turn out all right.

Mistakes have one purpose – to make you stronger, wiser and better. Take time to reflect on things and uncover the hidden lessons from every mistake you did. Surely, it has something good to offer you.

Do you agree that some of the best lessons in life come from failures?

More importantly though is what we can do about it. In today’s environment of job insecurity and cut backs, positive thinking can sometimes seem hard to achieve. We often just don’t realise when the pressures of life are getting on top of us. But then we become ill, suffering from stress, anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, depression and many other illnesses.

Quite often our own behaviours and negative thought processes have caused these problems. They leave us feeling vulnerable and unable to cope. Hypnotherapy can make a positive difference to the way we react. By changing old patterns of behaviour to new more positive ones we enable you to cope so much better with life’s challenges.

So what exactly is Hypnotherapy?

It differs from other therapies in that it is drug free. There is no physical manipulation and the conscious mind, with its anxious or analytical thoughts, is bypassed by means of the ‘hypnotic induction’.

For many of us, it is the conscious mind which can often hinder the success of other forms of psychological work. Consequently beneficial results are often achieved rapidly through hypnotic intervention methods. Using the tool of hypnosis the therapist guides the client into a relaxed state enabling direct access to their subconscious mind. This is where our instinctive behaviour patterns and natural reactions are formed. Using positive suggestion and imagery the therapist is able to focus on the behaviours that the client wishes to change.

What is Hypnosis? It’s the bringing together of the conscious and subconscious minds in a trance state, it is not sleep. A safe and powerful technique, hypnosis creates a deeply relaxed state of the body, mind and emotions. A technique that has been used in healing for over 4,000 years. In fact, we slip in and out of trance many times a day. When we are ‘daydreaming’, doing repeated tasks, watching television and when we are about to fall to sleep at night. You are guided into a relaxed trance state by the sound of the therapist’s voice and no-one can be hypnotised against their will. Make a positive step during mental health awareness week by booking online today for a free consultation.